Freezing Produce by the Handful

Thank you for visiting Little House in the Suburbs. If you like what you see, please SUBSCRIBE.

My Gran always called it ‘putting up the ______’. It took a whole day for each crop. Putting up the tomatoes. Putting up the squash. Putting up the peppers.

I am not my Gran.

For one, I can’t get all my produce to appear at the same time. Second, I’m lazy and all day long is way too long for me. Especially multiple times in a season. Third, not all my veggies ‘made’ this year. (Read: Have to buy Ripley tomatoes at the Kroger.) So, here’s what I do. It takes about five whole minutes:

1. Gather and clean a small batch of veggies from the garden…or farmer’s market.

We do our corn like that, but it does take a whole day. We set up a big pot of boiling water, and another big pot of ice water. Then, pick the corn, shuck the corn and throw it in the boiling water for exactly one minute, followed by the ice water for exactly one minute. Then, using a sharp knife, cut the kernels off the cob, put them in freezer bags and freeze them. It’s so nice to have wonderful, sweet corn all winter long.

If I plan on canning my tomatoes in a sauce then I won’t blanch them. Simply wash and throw in a freezer bag and then into the freezer. Add to the bag as the tomatoes get ripe. Once ready to make sauce simply toss the tomaotes in a strainer, then run them under hot water until they start to thaw. The skins will literaly pop off the tomatoes. So easy and saves lots of time!!!

I haven’t done this with peppers– great idea. When I freeze tomatoes, I don’t even bother steaming and peeling them– I freeze them whole on a cookie tray and then throw them into baggies. When I need to use them, I just run the frozen tomatoes under warm water and skins peel right off.

@Nicole–some end up in stirfry or sauces…the hot peppers were diced and put in a meatloaf tonight. I get out a few tomatoes in the morning and saute them up with basil and eggs for the hubby b-fast. Whatever you like! Soups, sauces, just not salads.

The question is – what do they come out as? I froze some of my harvest this year too. Everyone is of the opinion that the frozen items later taste terrible. (Tomatoes like cardboard, someone just said to me.) So what do you think about the end result of it?

I’m so glad to hear you can do this with tomatoes. I had heard that canning them is dangerous, so I’ve frantically been making soups and sauces to use them up before they go bad. My minestrone and lentil stews have never tasted better, but there are still more tomatoes! Thanks for the easy tip.

I do this with with fruit (cut up peaches, blueberries, bananas) but I don’t blanche them. I never thought to do this with veggies. I can’t wait to go to the farmers market! Can you get the skin off the green peppers after they are cooked?

Anyone? Bueller? Hello? I’ve got mounds of goodies waiting to get steamy. Do you use a steamer basket with no water? Are the veggies just on the bottom of the pot? Can it be that easy? Do I start with a cold pot? How high of a flame? Thanks….

Thanks! The steaming will commence shortly. Note to Keira: Canning tomatoes is fabulous, don’t worry. Somewhere I’ve read that adding lemon juice will bump up the acidity if that concerns you. When canning, keep everything hot & clean. Once you get your equipment you’ll be consumed with thinking of things to can — jellies, jams, salsas, tomato juice. Apple-Jalapeno Jelly slathered on crackers with cream cheese. Get grapes in season, make juice now and freeze it. In the winter, defrost it and whip up a batch of jelly. Strawberry Jammmmm. See what I mean?